POTD: The Colt Flattop Target – A Target Gun with an Outlaw Legend

Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! Here we have a Colt Single Action Army built for the target line, carrying a story that’s pure Old West. This is a Colt Flattop Target model, one of the rarer factory variations of the 1873 Peacemaker. Colt made only around 925 of them between 1888 and 1896, all caliber options combined.

The “flattop” name is literal. Instead of the usual rounded topstrap, Colt machined it flat to mount a proper adjustable rear sight, paired with an interchangeable-blade front. This was Colt’s serious target Peacemaker, and it sold heavily into the British market. Colt was cleaning up at the Bisley matches in England around 1890, so most left the factory in calibers suited to that crowd. This one is chambered in .45 Long Colt, the proper American fighting round (big bullet = big hole), and only about 100 flattops were built that way. A target gun in a gunfighter’s caliber is an unusual pairing.

Then there’s the legend. According to a notarized family letter, this specific revolver passed from Butch Cassidy to a Wyoming lawyer named G.H. Paul, supposedly handed over to settle his legal fees just before Cassidy lit out for South America. Like most outlaw provenance, it’s a story told secondhand and impossible to prove, and the dates don’t line up cleanly, but it’s a good one, and that’s half the fun with guns from this era.

Most of our POTDs utilize images from our friends at Rock Island Auction Company, the premier firearms auction in the United States. Take some time to browse their current auctions – who knows, maybe you’ll find a piece of history to take home!

“Colt Single Action Army Flattop Target Model Revolver in Extremely Scarce .45 Long Colt Attributed to Infamous Old West Outlaw Butch Cassidy.” Rock Island Auction, www.rockislandauction.com/detail/5032/913/colt-flattop-single-action-army-attributed-to-butch-cassidy. Accessed 25 June 2026.

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